Immigrant Child and Civil Society Organizations: Opportunities, Threats, Advantages and Weaknesses

As stated in the national and international legislation on children's rights, being a child and the rights arising therefrom come before any other adjective. The world, which is thought to become a global village, is not a place where equal opportunities are offered for all children. Children are in disadvantageous groups because they cannot meet their needs directly. Migrant children are not even able to have a chance meet their needs. This situation makes them double disadvantageous. The first intervention to the disadvantaged situation of migrant children is through non-governmental organizations. Non-governmental organizations, the target audience of which are people and work on a voluntary basis, are the first organizations to meet immigrants at the border. Ultimately, when immigrants cross the border and come to the destination country or where they will be guests, it is difficult for them to adapt to social life in the short or long term and they need civil society in this regard. In order for civil society organizations to bear this burden, they must have a strong organized structure. In this study, the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and possible threats of the associations, whose target group is only children, are questioned as well as the value that associations attribute to children. Thus, the purpose of the research is to determine how these associations can be used in the solution of the problem of immigrant children and how they contribute to this problem with the studies carried out by these associations. This study will help civil society organizations direct their energies towards improving their weakly functioning aspects. The sample of the study is non-governmental organizations whose target audience is children. In this context, information was collected from 52 non-governmental organizations about their work with 13 open-ended questions online. The data obtained are explained by using SWOT factors. Thus, with this study, the advantages and weaknesses of the associations within the non-governmental organizations as well as their threats and opportunities will be identified.

Keywords

Public Administration, Immigrant Child, Associations, NGOs, SWOT Factors